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Monday, October 20, 2008

Dead Wrong


Notorious B.I.G.

As I wait for Eminem to put out a new record, I'm learning more about the west coast/east coast world of rap. Some pretty nasty, powerfully real shit. Mostly autobiographical, as most authentic, passionate music is, the words of Biggie, Snoop, Tupac, Dre, Combs, and Mr. Mathers reveal the lives they've lived.

And in a twisted feedback loop, they hyperbolize those lives, and deaths.

Modern poets, however vulgar, they speak the truth of the coastal streets.

Or do they create it? Persistence
spittin' 'gainst resistance.
I don'know, only know existence.
This shit's just
pissed us all off 'cause
we hate to see hate
playin' us against
each other, brother
of another color,
another city. I don't
blame Em for lyin' low.
Life's not even worth the sickest flow.
He had ta blow, for awhile
he'd be in denial if he didn't go.
Rappers are artists too, yo.
- vinylart '08

You may not like it, but, yes it is art, not for the faint of heart. No, seriously, this is heavy. What the warning labels are for. But it is their truth. Power to those who have the guts to share it.

Peace.

Available - Notorious B.I.G. 10/20/08


2 comments:

Jeff said...

Good post. I'm not a fan of rap by any extent, I can listen to some stuff, i.e. NWA, but in small doses. A lot of people slam the genre because they think it's crap, but a lot of it is most definitely art and good poetry. I think the genre may have declined a bit focusing on ridiculous and degrading topics but like you mentioned, the more serious rappers certainly wrote poetry.

Daniel Edlen said...

Thanks Jeff! I think as any genre gets huge commercial success, the industry pumps out pop fluff that create a lotta noise. It happened recently with country too after Garth Brooks broke out so big. So, it's just that now there's a lot of rap noise. The thing that sucks is it's the noise in these situations that get the most promotion, publicity and commercial airplay. Makes it more challenging to dig for the real. Thank goodness for the Internet!